Friday, June 23, 2006

Two spare the air days in a row

As a bicyclist with asthma, i get irritated in a lot of ways on spare the air days. it's good to have a warning about the days that have the worst air quality, but i can't avoid going out there, and if i have to go anywhere, it's going to be by bike, on foot, or in the bus (cough, cough, when are they going to make diesel burn cleaner?). Or on the train.

The bad air quality isn't helped by the fact that people don't change their behavior on non-spare the air days. I've been hearing a lot of radio shows about global warming and climate change in the last few days, and people are finally starting to state clearly that if people don't change their behavior immediately, there will be IRREVRSIBLE effects on the planet. If it's not too late.

And by the way, i noticed that my block was quite empty this morning- hardly a car in sight, which means that everybody who usually drives somewhere did on this lovely, extra warm Thursday morning. And this is in Berkeley, less than a mile from BART, with a transbay bus stopping on the corner and everything. And, since public transit is free on spare the air days, HOW DO THEY MEASURE INCREASED RIDERSHIP on those days? Just wondering.

You'd think that us asthmatics could get an excuse to drive on those days, or something.

>
>
> Tomorrow, Friday June 23, is another Spare the Air Day in the San
> Francisco
> Bay Area. For the second day in a row, ground-level ozone air pollution is
> forecast to exceed 100 AQI (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups) tomorrow.
>
> Mañana es un día "Spare the Air." Por favor, maneje su carro lo menos
> posible mañana.
>
> Again -- the Air District, MTC, buses, ferries, and BART are offering FREE
> commutes all day on this second "Spare the Air" weekday! For details, go
> to
> http://www.511.org.
>
> To help prevent smog tomorrow, please:
> - Drive less, bike or walk
> - Take public transit - visit 511.org to plan your trip!
> - Carpool or vanpool
>
> To monitor current air quality conditions, visit
> http://www.sparetheair.org
>
> Thank you for doing your part to Spare the Air!
>
> This AirAlert is provided by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

woo fucking hoo.

Today it started to cool off by 3:30. I had showered and changed into cooler clothes in anticipation of the day getting hotter (guess I'm a bit used to the Davis/Woodland weather now), and boy was I surprised.

posted by mahtin @ 12:54 AM